Okay, during a recent shopping spree on Newegg, I watched a video of "Paul", I think his name is; demoing something, a graphic card, power supply, or memory...I can't remember which, I've watched so many of their helpful videos in the last couple weeks.

But in one particular video, he demonstrated eliminating static discharge by touching a plugged in power supply, and saying that you could alternatively touch the computer case.

Except in this particular example, the PSU was .. painted.

Fine, I get that, the PSU case is connected to ground in the 3-prong plug, yes? And if it's screwed into the computer case, you would likely have an electrical connection at the screws, but only if you touch an unpainted part of the computer case, correct?

So what's the truth? How much grounding can you expect to achieve with a painted PSU or (in ever increasing numbers), cases with painted interiors? Is it time to start using a strap for certain case designs?

Painted doesn't mean non-conductive. A painted piece of metal has an unknown level of resistance to it (from 0 to infinite, depending on how insulating the paint is), but it's pretty likely that you'll successfully discharge your static buildup on a painted metal surface.

Unpainted would definitely be the better practice, though.

I've never trusted straps, myself - The wire inside could be broken, the small contact area of the strap's metal against my skin has never felt particularly reliable (especially if you're hairy), who knows how much resistance there is in the coiled up cord, etc. It's just a different set of unknowns.

I am confident that I can ground myself on my existing case, so it's not a huge concern for me. The video piqued my interest and I decided to ask here. I did not know that paint could be conductive or not. Interesting!

I have a wrist strap in my toolkit. I think I got it for free or something. I literally NEVER use it...I just touch chassis metal before handling parts. Even if it's not plugged in to a grounded socket the metal will still pull any static off you. I've never, ever fried a PC part due to static. I'm generally careful too though, and don't shuffle my feet across the floor or anything Someone will come in and say 'you could have done microscopic damage!!11' which is true, but if it works in spec then it's fine.